Each cylinder head has twin overhead camshafts with a large-diameter base circle, resulting in a large amount of lift with less stress. All four camshafts are driven by a toothed belt with a self-adjusting belt tensioner. The belt assembly also includes two eccentric pulleys for timing adjustment.

The camshafts are direct-acting on the valves via hydraulic lifters. The hydraulic lifters adjust automatically to the change in length of the valves at different temperatures. They operate in an oil bath and are supplied with oil via an oil gallery in the cylinder head. The advantages of hydraulic lifters are their quiet operation and their reliability. In addition, each cylinder head has two air purging nozzles to eliminate tappet noise after starting.

The valves have chromium-plated stems and the exhaust valves are sodium filled for heat dissipation. The camshaft sprockets on the rear cylinder head are interchangeable as are the camshaft sprockets on the front cylinder head. The valve guides are pressed in the cylinder head and are not replaceable. They are serviced by reaming the guide to over-size diameter and installing valves with over-size valve stems.

Each connecting rod is manufactured in one piece. There is a fractural impression at the big end where the connecting rod is "snapped" into two parts, one of which forms the big-end bearing cap.

The big-end bearing caps are bolted to the connecting rods. The connecting rods are marked with a "bump" to prevent them from being installed incorrectly.

The crankshaft has ground journals which are hardened by an induction hardening process. This produces a hard-wearing surface finish.

There are four main bearings and lubricating oil channels are drilled in the shaft. All main bearings are replaceable. The No. 2 and No. 3 main bearings have no grooves in the bearing caps. The sensor wheel for the engine management system is bolted to the crankshaft.

The cylinder block is a special one-piece cast iron casting with the cylinder bores cast directly into the block. Oil galleries for the lubricating system are also drilled into the block.

The engine has two cylinder heads identified as the front bank (cylinders 2, 4, 6) and the rear bank (cylinders 1, 3, 5).

Each cylinder head is precision cast in a light aluminum alloy and is fastened to the cylinder block with non-reusable torque-to-yield bolts. The combustion chambers are hemispherical with four valves per cylinder and the spark plugs are located in the center. This improves the flow of gasses in the cylinders and also ensures effective combustion of the air-fuel mixture -- resulting in greater efficiency.

The engine is a water-cooled six cylinder V configuration engine with twin camshafts per cylinder head and four valves per cylinder. The angle between the banks of cylinders is 54 degrees which results in a compact engine. The cylinder volume is 3.0 liters. For cylinder arrangement, refer to illustration.

The engine utilizes the Motronic engine management system.

The camshafts are driven by a toothed belt. The engine contains the following features: automatic purging of the air in the oilways supplying the oil to the tappets, an integral oil cooler to cool the engine oil and a main bearing bridge support which stiffens the block around the main bearing area.

The oil cooler has dual functions; it heats the oil when cold starting and cools the oil at operating temperature.

The pistons are made of light alloy and are coated with graphite. There are grooves for two compression rings and one oil scraper ring. The top compression ring is flat and is molybdenum coated. The lower compression ring has an oil-scraper function and is wider than the upper one. The actual oil-scraper ring consists of three parts.

The piston pins are fitted in the piston and connecting rod and are full floating. The axial movement of the pin is limited by locking clips in the piston pin bore.

The timing belt tensioner mounted on the slack side of the timing belt is spring loaded and adjustable. Once the belt tension has been adjusted, it keeps tension on the belt continuously and compensates for belt wear.

The belt assembly also includes two adjustable eccentric rollers.